When One Door Closes, Another Opens
by FiveRoses
Summary: If Jane were fired, he might be forced to do some soul-searching and decide what - or who - really matters to him. One-shot.


_Since this can't actually happen in the show without it kind of killing its own premise, I thought I'd take a little look at how Jane might react to being fired. Because in the real world, that would have happened ages ago!_

_Disclaimer: These are clearly not my characters, because I have no problem saying that I don't think that their relationship is even remotely sibling-like... and making them say it too!_

**When One Door Closes, Another Opens**

It was bound to happen eventually, but it was still a shock when the moment finally arrived. The CBI had finally had enough of Patrick Jane, and they had fired him. His ID tag was taken away from him, his possessions were loaded into boxes, and the security staff were told that once he'd left the premises, he wasn't welcome back.

Lisbon had looked appalled and had done her best win him a reprieve, but to no avail. He had played one trick too many, annoyed one important person too many, caused one lawsuit too many to be filed against the CBI, and they had had enough. Patrick Jane was too heavy a liability and he had to go. Immediately.

Jane had climbed into his car in a numb daze. He had no idea where to go at 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. All he wanted to do was to lie on his comfy couch and be lulled to sleep by Van Pelt's typing and Rigsby and Cho's bickering. The CBI was his little haven, his security blanket, his bulwark against a large, empty, lonely world. He didn't have the slightest desire to go home to his small, silent apartment; nor was he in the mood to drive down to LA to haunt his empty ghostly house.

When the security guard indicated, a little apologetically, that Jane couldn't sit in his car in the CBI car park all day, Jane started the engine and began to drive aimlessly. He wasn't really especially surprised when he eventually found himself driving along Lisbon's road and pulling over in front of her house. Where else could he have gone? Lisbon was all he had.

When Lisbon arrived home a few hours later, she found a forlorn Jane sitting on her front doorstep, looking like a little lost orphan. Actually, her brain traitorously amended before she could stop it, he looked more like a beleaguered Greek god than he did Oliver Twist. He had the world-weary air of Atlas bowed beneath the weight of the world. In any event, she was rather relieved to see him, as she'd been worrying about him all afternoon.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him sympathetically. "Alone and palely loitering, I see."

He gave her a bleak smile. She edged past him and unlocked her door.

"How long have you been here?"

"A few hours," he said. "Needless to say, this step is not as comfortable as my couch."

"Do you want some tea?" she asked, as he followed her inside.

He indicated that he did and then went to occupy her couch while she made it. She had never seen Jane so deflated. He seemed shell-shocked and disconcertingly rudderless. She had always thought of him as The Man With A Plan, so it was upsetting to see him this way.

She gave him his tea, then sat down and asked, "So, do you have any idea what you're going to do now?"

Jane shook his head.

"I'm not very good at preparing contingency plans," he said gloomily. Although he had theatrically quit the CBI more than once in the past, he had only done so because he had known he could go back whenever he chose, which he had always done sooner rather than later. This time, though, he hadn't been in control of the decision; the choice had been ruthlessly made for him, leaving him helpless and impotent. It was not an experience he was especially well-equipped to deal with.

"Are you going to be okay for money?" Lisbon asked cautiously. Money was a sensitive subject to many people, and she had no idea what Jane's financial situation was.

"Money's not an issue," Jane said. "I work mainly because I'll go mad if I have nothing to do all day."

"Well, you could get a Private Investigator license and work freelance. With your reputation, you'd have no trouble getting clients, and you'd love having no bosses telling you what to do and no cops cramping your style."

"By myself?" Jane preferred having an admiring audience (even if that audience consisted solely of one small, easily annoyed green-eyed woman) to working in quiet, discreet solitude, as one might expect of a PI.

"You could get a partner if you wanted to. Or hire someone to work for you. Preferably a body guard, since I know your propensity to make people want to inflict grievous bodily harm on you."

"What about you?"

Lisbon laughed.

"No thanks. I know your methods, remember. I think I'll stick with the job that I have. At least that way I might be able to help you when you get yourself into legal difficulties, as you inevitably will."

Jane regarded her thoughtfully.

"Will you still tell me what's happening with the Red John case?"

Lisbon face fell.

"Jane, you know I can't do that." She looked at him almost pleadingly.

He gave her a soft little smile.

"Don't worry, Lisbon. I understand. I had to ask." He sighed.

They drank their tea in silence for a few minutes, both busy with their own thoughts. Then Jane looked up and fixed Lisbon with a gaze that unnerved her a little.

"What?" she said, a little irritably.

"Will you go out with me? On a date?" he said.

Lisbon's eyes grew wide.

"That's your strategy for getting information on the Red John case? Dating me?" she asked incredulously.

Jane looked surprised and upset.

"No, of course not, Lisbon!" he said. Then he added, a little more slowly and calmly, "Though I can understand why you jumped to that conclusion."

He gave her a sad smile. He had tried so hard not to get attached to anyone again, to keep everyone at arm's length and ensure that he didn't give Red John any new ways to hurt him or any new reasons to hurt anyone else. But it had turned out that Red John could hurt him even by killing people he didn't especially like. And from the day he had met Lisbon, he had felt uneasily that she and Red John were a bad combination. He had been haunted by the fear that Lisbon was far too compelling a target, both for his love and for Red John's bloodlust. However, having already experienced what it felt like to almost lose her, and now standing on the brink of losing her again in a different way, he knew that it was time to man up and tell her how he really felt about her.

"I know that my obsession with catching Red John seems to be the only thing I care about," he said, trying to find words to make her understand, "but that's not the case. I care about you. And I realised today that I can't imagine a life where I don't get to see you every day."

He held Lisbon's gaze, and she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

"If we're not working together, then that gets rid of your excuse as to why we can't date. And since you're already as much a Red John target by being the lead agent on his case as you would be for dating me, that negates my excuse as to why we can't date. And if you can't share information with me or work with me on the case, then that gets rid of the elephant in the middle of our relationship. I'm not saying I'll give up my quest for revenge, because we both know that wouldn't be true, but how I go about it won't be your responsibility any longer. So there are no good reasons left for us not to go out."

Lisbon's gaze drifted down to Jane's wedding ring. He followed her gaze.

"Ah, the other elephant in the room. Did you know that I've now been widowed for the same length of time as I was married? I've kept the ring on all this time so that I'd never forget that she died because I refused to do what she asked when she wanted me to give up being a fake psychic. And yet, despite wearing a constant reminder about the consequences of not listening, I still didn't learn, did I?" His voice was bitter. "You also begged me to change my behaviour and still I didn't listen. Why do I only ever learn a lesson when it's too late for it to matter any more?" He twirled the ring, then gently eased it off and slipped it into his pocket. He looked up at her. "Perhaps it's time I stopped closing stable doors after the horses have bolted and started listening in real time."

He gazed at Lisbon with an unguarded expression of repentance and hope. She was looking at him with undisguised astonishment.

"I've had to do a lot of soul searching today," he said softly, "and if there's one thing I've realised I'm certain about it's that I want to be with you."

Lisbon could see that he meant it. She was also fairly certain that he'd persuade Cho to keep him apprised of developments on the Red John case and that she'd still be caught in the cross-fire, but right now she couldn't bring herself to care about that. Dating Patrick Jane seemed like a far more appealing option than being his hapless boss. She looked down at her hands and swallowed nervously.

"And what does a date with Patrick Jane involve, exactly?" she inquired.

His face broke into a big beam of relief and delight.

"Whatever makes my lady happy," he said gallantly.

"Such as?" she prompted.

He cocked his head on one side and regarded her thoughtfully.

"A visit to the zoo, perhaps? Or we could go rowing on the river? Or I could cook dinner for you here and we could watch old movies together? Or we could go dancing? Or to an art museum? Or all of the above? And I can think of plenty more. In fact, I have an inexhaustible supply of ideas."

He loved the way Lisbon's eyes were glowing and felt a little thrill of pleasure knowing that he had been the one to make that light come on inside her. In moments like these, he found it possible to believe that he could be happy wanting nothing more from life than to make Teresa Lisbon glow.

"Okay," she said, "since we're already here, let's start with the dinner and old movies. We can work our way through the rest of your inexhaustible list at a later date." She smiled at him. Her Greek god immediately shed the world and started looking more like a victorious Hercules after he'd successfully completed his Twelve Labours. His grin, however, ruined the effect, and he ended up reminding her instead of a mischievous Cupid. Half-laughing, she said, "You know, this really isn't how I expected today to turn out."

"Well," Jane said, "every cloud has a silver lining. And, as the Bard said, all's well that ends well."

"Or as Bell said, when one door closes, another opens," Lisbon rejoined.

They smiled at each other. After years of wondering what was behind this particularly tempting door, they were finally going to find out...

THE END


End file.
